They’re rough, tough and spit blood from their eyes if you get too close — but not that often.

The Texas horned lizard rarely lives up to that scary stereotype, experts say.

“I’ve never seen one squirt blood out of its eyes,” Chadd Malone said.

Malone, a district biologist in the Panhandle area, studies the creatures that have been designated Texas’ state reptile and are often called horny toads.

But the lizards do have the ability to squirt blood, and doing so is not unheard of. It’s just not common behavior.

“Of a hundred lizards you catch, I’d say maybe one or two will squirt blood,” said Chip Ruthven, a project leader for the Panhandle wildlife management areas.

Squirting blood is an aggressive act, and fleeing seems to be a preferred alternative to fighting.

Most lizards scatter at the first sight of a human approaching, and horned ones are no exception.

“It would have to be a last resort,” said Mason Moreland, a wildlife technician with the Texas Department of Parks and Wildlife.

Because they prefer warmer temperatures, horned lizards are more likely to be spotted this time of year. Your chances of seeing one at all are a little bit lower than they were a few decades ago.

“Across the whole range they’re on a slight decline, but still relatively stable,” said Russell Martin, a wildlife biologist for parks and wildlife.

That range includes areas from southwestern Missouri and central Kansas to throughout much of the Southwest and Mexico. As its name suggests, the Texas horned lizard holds the Lone Star state as a favorite stomping ground.

“Texas is definitely the core of their range,” Martin said.

Ruthven’s Matador management area — located just north of Paducah — studies population trends of the lizards. Researchers have marked more than 3,000 of the cold-blooded critters since 2004 in an effort to keep up with them.

At the regional level, they’ve found fairly good news for the species. In Central and East Texas, though, horned lizards have suffered habitat loss from urbanization.

“They’re still very common in this part of the state,” Ruthven said. “In points east, they’ve declined dramatically.”

In many locales, the lizards’ decline correlates with a drop in numbers of harvester ants. The tiny bugs are a favorite food for the lizard, but a frequent victim of insecticide intended for more aggressive fire ants. They also have trouble surviving certain recently introduced grass varieties.

“They’ve lost lots of habitat,” Martin said. “Once you lose harvester ants, you typically will lose horny toads as well.”

Under Texas law, you can’t kill the lizard for sport or keep it as a pet. That state-level security is less significant than a threatened or endangered listing at the federal level, which could accompany, say, closer monitoring of oil and gas activity in the species’ habitat.

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"Satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody's face but their own." Jonathan Swift "I don't care to belong to a club that accepts people like me as members." Groucho Marx

around the property, along with other lizards and critters. We have quite a few harvester ant beds, and we try to leave them alone for the horned lizards. They started harvesting in my garden, so I had to draw a line, but I try to live and let live.

Horny toads have been a part of my life for a long time. I support them in their efforts to survive.

Growing up around this region, they're probably the most common wildlife that us kids would run across, but that's probably because they're not too terribly fast and were easy to catch before they could duck and hide somewhere.

I've seen and handled more of them than I can count, but I've never seen them squirt blood. I always figured that to be one of those playground urban legends.

I have lived in the area surrounding Lubbock for my whole life, over 50 years. I have handled probably 100 of the little critters during that time, and have had one or two "eject" blood from their eyes. It doesn't shoot far, maybe 2' at the most, as well as I remember. We have 10 acres out in Woodrow and I mow about half of it. Last week while mowing I counted 8 horny toads dodging me. I take my time so as that they can dodge. One time I was weed eating around a utility pole and killed two before I knew they were even there, really made me sad because they are harmless and just want to be left alone to eat ants. We kill the ant beds in our yard, but let the horny toads take care of the rest of the acreage. Some years there are quite a few of them, some years we don't see but one or two.

I have been here most of my life and they are probably my favorite critter. Nothing but fond memories from childhood with them. It sure is nice to know they are doing well. I still see them occasionally when I'm out in the "wilderness". I think it's cool the way they can puff up or make themselves skinny, whichever it wants. You can also rub their belly and calm them down to almost a sleep. I never understood why someone would willingly kill one. I ask all my friends that have some property to not kill all of their ant beds.

There's a breeding population in our backyards long inside the city. Somehow, they have survived cats, dogs, lawnmowers, weedeaters, and children. Children may be the worst.

Helps to have bare areas with minimal grass. Need plenty of ants, so don't poison the ants.

I remember big horned lizards of 4-5" but all are now small. Guess they don't live long enough to grow to size. But they do breed, and each summer brings a tiny lizard or two scurrying around. Have to worry about stepping on the little ones.

I like to pick up the droppings and crumble them. Amazing to see the number of ants those lizards eat. Breaking apart a lizard turd is like going through a chitinous ossuary.

"Satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody's face but their own." Jonathan Swift "I don't care to belong to a club that accepts people like me as members." Groucho Marx

weeds, though I call some of those weeds "wildflowers". We mow around the house and fence. I'm weed whacking and weed eating the other acre and a half or so at about a foot. I need the weeds to provide stability to the soil, and provide cover for the critters.

I did see one horny toad about a week ago which was around 4 inches. As long as the ants are just eating weeds, we leave them alone.